Don't Stop Believing
by randomgirl1200
Summary: 20 unrelated one-shots based on prompts from me or from readers, 20 glimpses into the worlds of different Glee club members/couples and their attempts to not stop believing. prompt #1: "greatest": Rachel doesn't need friends when she has dreams.


_So, my brother introduced me to a random word generator and this is how this fic came about. The word "greatest" came out when I first tried the site out and I started thinking of one-shot ideas about it. I've seen other people do fics like this on this site and I really wanted to try writing a series of non-related one-shots based on random words/prompts. So if anyone reads this, I hope you'll leave a review to let me know if you have an idea or a word you'd like me to base a one-shot about. If you like you can also specify the character/pairing and if I have inspiration for it then I'll do it. I'm open to doing any character/pairing for Glee. So please __**review**__ to leave me a prompt/word/idea… Thanks!_

**Don't Stop Believing**

_prompt: _greatest

_focus: _rachel, mentions rachel/finn, rachel/puck, rachel/mercedes, rachel/kurt, rachel/quinn

_Open your eyes now, I'll try to be almost everything you need me to be. She'll be a star now, I will follow her lead. She'll be a scar now, I will still let her bleed all over me._

–"**open your eyes" by andrew belle**

"Greatest" is the kind of word that is specific, that leaves no room for arguing.

If it were "great", for example, then pretty much the whole Glee club would qualify. Hell, maybe even more than half the world would meet the standard of "great".

"Great" is the kind of word that was thrown around casually, without there being much thought to it, like "_You're great!_" or "_This movie's great_".

Rachel Berry doesn't want anyone to tell her she was "great".

So when her dads ask her how many New Year's resolutions she has, she simply tells them one.

They are surprised. Last year she had a hundred and eight.

They ask her what this resolution was.

She tells them it was to be the greatest.

_At what?_ they say.

At _everything_.

x

Everything might seem like a lot to the average person, but to Rachel, it is only a narrow list.

Becoming a star is the first and most important one. It's coming along nicely really, she has enough recommendation letters, excellent grades and a butt load of extra-curricular activities. She's lucky enough to have supporting fathers, who let her spend money to train with vocal experts and go to dance classes every day. She has a large chance at being the lead in the musical and Senior Class President. NYADA would be stupid not to accept her.

Being Finn's girlfriend is the second one, and _almost_ as important as the first one, but not quite. Last year, she'd gotten her priorities mixed up, making Finn more important than her dreams.

She won't let that happen again.

Still, Finn is the person she cares about most in the world, and the simple act of caring for someone makes her heart burst with happiness, because once upon a time, not too long ago actually, she didn't any boy to care for.

So she tries to convince him that he was special, that he is worth something outside of Lima, Ohio.

She tries to convince herself, too.

It seems like that is all she is doing these days, trying.

She can't judge if she's the greatest _yet_, but she's definitely trying to be.

x

The thing _is_, she isn't sure if all her trying is paying off.

Before Glee club, she never really had _friends_. When she was younger, she told her dads about this and they convinced her that they were her friends, and she believed them. She believed that they were the only friends she'd ever need.

Of course, when she grew older, she knew that even if her dads were her _friends_, it was only because they were obliged to. Because they were her parents.

The first person she thought might be her friend was Noah. They were both five and he wasn't cool enough to be known as Puck yet. They sat next to each other at Temple every week, but they never saw each other outside of the Jewish-related activities in Lima so Rachel later realized their interaction wasn't enough to label what they had as a friendship.

Later, around ten years later to be exact, the person she thought might be her first friend threw cold, syrupy drinks at her and laughed while she cringed and cleaned herself off.

After him, she'd been rather disheartened at the term "friend" and decided that instead of trying to get people to like her, she'd _force_ them to like her by being amazingly talented and blowing them all away. She didn't need friends, not when she had dreams. Everyone knew it was lonely at the top.

Her second friend was Finn, if she could even label Finn as such. Their friendship consisted of secret kisses in empty auditoriums and dingy, out-of-the-way bowling alleys, and him ignoring her every time his cheerleader girlfriend or football buddies came around. But she saw something inside his lopsided, innocent smile and believed he was the most special, the _greatest_ person ever.

After her, of course.

And when the most popular girl in the whole school, Quinn Fabray told her they were friends, even Rachel wasn't naïve enough to convince herself this was true.

So when Kurt and Mercedes had invited her for a sleepover, it was a whole new experience for her. The chatting about boys, the giggling, the endless rom-com watching, it was all new and fascinating to her. It was truly wonderful.

But it seems like in her quest for being the greatest, to become a star, or as Kurt puts it, "her borderline sociopathic climb to the top", she is losing the only two friends she's ever had.

As for Finn, perhaps she hasn't been as encouraging or soothing as she thought. Or maybe it's just his own insecurities making him all uptight and nervous around her. One day, he tells her the fact that she is going NYADA and he is going nowhere makes him uneasy around her.

Why is it that her dream of being the greatest star clashes with her dream of being the greatest girlfriend?

But she knows that Lima, Ohio isn't the "greatest". It isn't even great. It isn't even _good._

She has to leave it behind. She has to leave the Glee club, her friends, and her boyfriend behind too.

But it doesn't matter, because one day, she will be on a stage in Broadway, New York, singing her heart out and being applauded and _appreciated_ for it.

When she thinks about that, nothing else really matters.

Because then, she will truly be the _greatest_.

Who needs friends when you have dreams?

x

_So, this is kinda random and I don't really like it that much but when I saw the word greatest flash across my computer screen I immediately thought of Rachel, because let's face it, she's the one with the most motivation on the show. Anyway, I know her dream to be a star makes her clash with Mercedes, Kurt and sometimes Finn, but I wanted to get across that being a star will ALWAYS come first to her, and even though sometimes she does selfish things, I think she's actually a super nice character and there's nothing wrong with the fact that she's motivated. _

_I hope you guys enjoyed it and please leave me ideas for another one-shot in a review!_


End file.
